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“Holy crap, Teavana is discontinuing this blend! I ordered one last mix for my stock pile, and I guess I’ll have to explore making chai blends again. This was my favorite for so long…
“I’m offended...”
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“I now have my own stash of this tea (I first tried it through a coworker). It’s a windy cold day, and I’m really in the mood for something spicy. I feel like my indie cred is totally blown drinking...”
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“Made a second steep from last nights leaves. Much more citrus came through in this steep and I actually tasted some of the lovely white tea. The spices were still present and I loved it.”
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“Fair Warning! I knew this one would be long but now looking back on it after I’ve written it, it’s absurdly long. In fact, it’s most likely my longest post ever. I rant a lot in it, but I also...”
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From Teavana

Samurai Chai:
A sip of this sweetly robust straight up Mate blend awakens the Samurai within. Inspired by the Way of the Warrior, this fresh green Mate is imbued with strong spices, invigorating herbs and revitalizing citrus. A wonderful cup of tea that will get you moving!

This was one of their better combinations, the few times that I’ve visited their shop this is the sample that I’d want to try. I was really frustrated with them though, that they wouldn’t sell it to me in a 2 ounce increment. So I never bought it, only sampled the overly sugared batch that they offered to walk-in customers.

@Ze_Teamaker: Jim Gaffigan’s Hot Pocket sketch kills me every time I hear it. “Hey I got an idea! How ’bout we take some nasty meat, shove it into a Poptart…you could cook it in a sleeve thing.” Have you seen him live? Worth every penny.

I now have my own stash of this tea (I first tried it through a coworker). It’s a windy cold day, and I’m really in the mood for something spicy. I feel like my indie cred is totally blown drinking Mall Tea but guess what – I don’t care! I really like this! It’s spicy but citrusy and tastes so mellow at the same time. That mate gives quite a kick energy-wise, but tastes nothing like black tea. I feel like I could drink this allllll day. Love, love, love!

I think the place Teavana is going to have in my life is only online, and only for these unique blends (I know where to get much better single source tea for less money), but after years and years – I have caved. I love that Youthberry Orange concoction, I love this. and I also got a Vanilla Honeybush which I forgot to review but I will next time I drink it – but it’s super yummy too. The bigger they come, the harder they fall, huh?

Mall tea! You are too funny! I am probably going to get the Youthberry to drink with my oldest daughter when she comes over. The younger girls hardly touch flavored tea, but oldest likes it best, except she also likes puerh well enough now. I had hubby pick up their Golden Monkey about a year ago. Good, but not as good as Harney and Sons. Have you tried the more recent harvest of GM? Much stronger, and quite delicious!

Fair Warning! I knew this one would be long but now looking back on it after I’ve written it, it’s absurdly long. In fact, it’s most likely my longest post ever. I rant a lot in it, but I also talk a lot about my super fun trip to Philly! And I talk forever. Just as an idea, even the WARNING for how long this post is is long. So yeah…. Read at your own risk :)

Hello everyone! I’ve had a brief absence as I went to Philadelphia with my father this weekend (so of course this one will be long! :D). Of course I’ve still been drinking tea, not even a hotel room can slow me down! (although, our hotel room was actually really nice…

We stayed in King of Prussia, which is a suburb of Philly and it’s right next to Valley Forge which is were my grandfather’s ashes are. We went to visit him and then we decided that since we were there we might as well go into the city! We also went to a HUUUUGE mall, which I talked about briefly before, and it was so much fun, though very overwhelming. I stopped by Teavana (more on that later!) and picked up this and Blackberry Mojito (as par Bonnie ‘s recommendation. I didn’t end up getting the Yixing I wanted but I think I’ve found a place here in VT to get one and it will no doubt be cheaper and nicer! Then, on Sunday, we went into the city. It was rainy and crappy out but it was still a lot of fun! Philadelphia is truly an amazing city and I can’t wait to go back when it’s nice outside (no doubt there will be another trip this summer!) but I still had loads of fun. We went to do the standard stuff like the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, and while I usually try to stay away from super tourist-y stuff in cities (I’ve never really liked all that tour crap and stuff, I like to actually explore the city!), I felt an obligation to go as Philadelphia has always been an interesting city to me and I’m in AP US History, and I felt like touring the place where this nation was basically born was absolutely necessary! After that we stopped by a coffee shop to plan our next move and, with a lot of persuasion on my part and the survey of a third party of local Philadelphians, we decided on the art museum! It was so much fun as I’ve never been to a huge art museum like that and I’m also in AP Art History, so it was so cool to see the stuff we’re learning about! My favorites were the Impressionistic and Post-Impressionistic pieces, along with the modern art wing which I absolutely LOVED! They had quite a few installments that were really cool and then they also had two rooms devoted to two of my favorite artists-Duchamp and Picasso! For those unfamiliar with Duchamp, I would definitely recommend looking him up! His Nude Descending a Staircase is one of my absolute all time favorite pieces! They had a whole section devoted to him and they had not only a collection of his later works but also his early works, before he got into Dadaism and other avant-garde styles. I’m sure you all know who Picasso is, and he had a huge room as well, which was really interesting.

Anywho, art talk aside, TEA! I’m going to have several backlogs so prepare yourself! Alright, really only 3 or 4, but still! I brought a nice selection of tea with me and I had quite a few of those. And, like I mentioned above, I also went to Teavana and picked some stuff up. Oh. My. God. RANTTIME! I got bombarded by my first Teavana employee and it absolutely sucked. The one I went to last time was small and you could tell not very many people ever went there, so it was very mellow and actually really enjoyable. Here, because it was such a large mall and it obviously had a higher customer count, it was absolutely atrocious. I managed to sneak by the snipers at the front and make my way into the back, where a lady asked if I needed help and I politely said no, and she said that was fine and walked away (a.k.a. the way salespeople are supposed to act). My dad, however wasn’t so lucky. I’m going to skip the pushiness part because I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about (pushing to try and trying to sell unnecessary things, etc.). However, there were two main flags that absolutely made me enraged.
1.) HE GAVE MY DADSOMETHING HE WASALLERGIC TO! My dad is allergic to cinnamon oil and the guy offered him some of this very blend (which I enjoy, on a mellow side note). When my dad asked what it was the guy explained that it was a cinnamon-y blend with some fruit and other spices. When my dad said he was allergic, the guy said he should try it anyways because it didn’t have oil in it. My dad did because he believed him, and then it DIDHAVECINNAMONOIL IN IT! Luckily it only makes my dads tongue puff up a little and it makes his mouth scratchy, so it was nothing serious, but still. That was blatantly lying to him and I was so not okay with that. This segues into the next point.
2.) This guy blatantly lied to us. First with the cinnamon, and then with the products. First off, I asked for this one in a tin and not the other (I don’t really think that tins are necessary as I keep the bags in a dark and cool location away from other flavors, and I don’t have enough money to buy tins for ALL of my teas). However, this one was a 4 oz. minimum, so I asked for at in as I know this one will last for a long time. And, when he pulled it up and explained it to me, I noticed it was the 1 lb. tin. When I asked if I could have the smaller, 4 oz. one, he said they didn’t have those. I. Was. Looking. Right. At. One. That made me so frustrated and he refused to get a smaller one, and forced me to pay almost double what I had to for a tin. I know I can reuse them, but still. That was totally not okay with me. And then the second thing he lied to me about (well I guess third, but this is all “at the counter” lies) is about the tea. When my dad complained about the price (which he typically does, though this time it was more rightfully so), the guy automatically went into “Defend Tevana at All Costs” mode. And, this one absolutely set me off and made me run away before I went at it with him, he said that with only 6 oz of tea, I could make well over 100 cups of tea. A.) That doesn’t even make sense. I actually don’t understand how he got to that so it leads me to believe that he was actually lying to my face. I did the math right there in my head and since I brew 12 oz. cups western style, I can make about 20 cups of tea with 2 oz. That’s only 60 cups of tea with 6 oz…. THAT’S ALMOSTHALF OF 100! This guy lied and said I could make almost double with this tea, and I know for a fact that it won’t resteep well at all because I’ve tried already. B.) What’s the point of lying about that?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!? I mean, I understand that it makes it seem like you’re getting more bang for your buck that way but I mean, why would you lie to that extent? He could’ve just said 75 cups… That would have been forgivable! But he didn’t…. Which makes me so angry. If I’m ever in the area again and he just happens to be working there I will make sure to confront him, only I’m not joking. He just made me so angry and lose almost all hope in Teavana.

Okay, rant aside. I’m sorry about that, I’m not good at this whole “don’t ramble on” thing. This tea is super good! I tried it as a sample a little while back and I knew that I wanted it. Plus, I’ve been on an uncharacteristic chai kick lately, and this one is super good. I like that I can drink it in the afternoon because the white tea kind of balances out the mate, and it makes the caffeine a lot less than it would be (or maybe I just made that up in my head as an excuse for drinking it at night….:P). Dry this one smells nice and spicy but it also has a nice sweet undertone to it that really makes it so tempting. I also think it’s really pretty. There’s a nice yellow-y green base of actual tea and then you get the little pops of red from the pepper and blue from the flowers. I would go on a rant about Teavana and then say I really like their tea… I guess what it all really comes down to though, is that I actually really do like some of their teas and that’s what makes me keep going back. It would be so much easier to just not like their teas at all :P I really like this one because it isn’t too too spicy when you’re drinking it (in fact it’s quite mellow), but then once you’ve swallowed a lovely, super-spicy aftertaste comes out that’s followed by a nice sweetness. As this one cools down a little, the sweetness comes out more in the flavor and the spiciness starts to play around a little more, too.

This one is super good, and despite all my Tevana troubles, I am really glad I picked this one up!

Preparation

Sometimes it pays to say that you have a tea blog and also review tea companies on Steepster. Teavana fell over backwards when I mentioned Steepster …almost gave me the tea. Oh, did you have a hogie? The best are from Philly! I was a Vista Volunteer there in 1968. And soft pretzels…um!

Sometimes it pays to say that you have a tea blog and also review tea companies on Steepster. Teavana fell over backwards when I mentioned Steepster …almost gave me the tea. Oh, did you have a hogie? The best are from Philly! I was a Vista Volunteer there in 1968. And soft pretzels…um!

I agree-I’ve mentioned the site to a few other tea enthusiasts and even a few companies and they’ve been surprised and excited. I didn’t get a chance to have a hogie :( I reallllly wanted to try a legitimate Philly Cheesesteak but I wasn’t able to as it was rainy and we couldn’t find anywhere that had them. Next time though!

Amy, my son went into STE at Pier 39 and he was getting Chocolate Strawberry Puer for me and said I did this Steepster thing (I did not tell him to say that!) and they gave it to him! What is this FEAR! He paid for the other tea though!

They must think we’re all terrible ogres here or something, lol. Anyways with all the stories about Teavana there’s no way in hell I’m going near their stores – I don’t care how good the tea is, it’s not worth the hassle.

What makes his math even worse, is that (for me) this blend requires more than your typical 1 tsp. for a good (8 oz) cup. Not to rile you up more or anything, lol. But I like this blend too (a lot), but their tactics will make it hard to repurchase. Nice trip!

@ScottTeaMan and Jillian-The only reason I go to their stores is because a.) I’ve heard equally as many horror stories about the website and I would rather just get the teas and stuff in store where I can physically see what I’m getting and make sure it’s not tainted/broken/out of stock when it says it isn’t and b.) because their teas are already so overpriced I would hate to have to pay shipping costs on top of that!

@Krystaleyn-I know! I didn’t realize how long it was until after I’d finished…. I’m glad you’re reading it! I always try to read everyone’s notes no matter how long or short! I like reading about your lives outside of tea!

Alright that sounded really creepy but I meant it in the most endearing way possible :P

I enjoy reading the long reviews too and thought it painted a great visual of your trip’s highlights Ian – thanks for sharing! I looked up Marcel and checked out his other works – very interesting!
Such a shame about Teavana – I will have to see what they do with all the Teaopia stores they’ve bought out here. I’ve been lucky to have dealt with some great Teaopia employees, & can only hope they keep them on after the rebranding is over.

I fear I may sound pandering, but I simply must commend you on both your writing style and your apparent maturity (would adding “at your age” be too much?). As I type this comment, I find myself hesitant to submit it due to the irrational fear of mistakenly provoking your ire. In all seriousness, I have read a few of your comments on other teas and have been repeatedly impressed by your deep grasp of what most would consider “mature” or “adult” perspectives. (not the adult or mature which requires a rating guide…) Bravo to you and to your parents for raising such an accomplished, intelligent, and articulate young man. There is hope yet for the future.

I love this tea blend (even with the coconut in it….must not be enough to bother my allergy). I had a cup of this after heading home from work with a migraine twenty minutes after I arrived. I’m not sure how, but it helped my migraine chill out a little. Still one of my favorite blends from Teavana. Thanks KeanTeaThyme for splitting the order with me!

My husband and I enjoyed an afternoon at the mall and he actually let me walk into Teavana!!! (Usually ends up with me spending way too much money and not necessarily on tea but accessories… cast iron teapot, Breville, teamakers, spoons you get the idea!) This is why my husband usually wants to chaperone me if I am going to the mall LOL!! But he was in a good mood and actually went into the teavana with me…(probably just to keep a close eye on my wallet!) But I got a $5 cup of “crack” if you will. That is what I think Teavana puts in this blend ;) It is so good when they make it… and there has to be some kind of drug in it for me to spend $5 on a cup of tea!!!! It was heavenly though!
(And when my husband wasn’t paying attention I got 2 oz of Jasmine green pearls and 2 oz of strawberry lemonade. I love blending the two! :) All in all we had a great mall trip!!!

I had this iced last night and came to realize this is good in sips and not so much as a whole cup! Bummer! I made 16oz of this and sipped about 6-8oz of it and then I was just completely tired of cinnamon lol….I need to try this hot!

One of my favorite teavana discoveries this trip! As you might know I had a week trip in Florida this past week and arrived home today. Before I left I made a stop at teavana and grabbed me one of this babies! I like it because it’s not too chaish and it wakes you up better than a red bull! Very robust and definatly great flavor! Might attempt this blending at home :) sooooo good :) if your lucky Enough to have a teavana in your area. Get one now! Haha I lovez it

With Teavana monitoring these pages, I feel that I do not have license to openly answer this question. However, your guess is just as good as the truth. I hope you keep reading. I’m planning on writing a lot more of these today :)